To The End - A Tuffnut Love Story (HTTYD)

30. An Uncanny Attack

"Cover your face!" Iris yelled as fire began to rain down on the riders. Everyone his their faces in their wings, thanking Odin they were fireproof right now.

It wasn't long before Hookfang, Stormfly, and the other dragons came to the rescue. They picked up their riders, Iris being carried by Skullcrusher, and began to retreat. But the devilish dervish chased after them. "Why are they following us?!" Fishlegs fretted.

"We must've gotten too close to a nest," Astrid yelled as she steered Stormfly through the sea stack. Thankfully, the devilish dervish were too large to fit through the narrow openings and were soon lost.

When they landed back on Berk, the dragons collapsed in exhaustion. Hiccup, who had been patrolling on Toothless, landed by them and questioned, "what happened? Is everyone okay?"

"We were attacked by a few devilish dervish," Astrid explained, "but we're alright."

"Devilish Dervish?" Hiccup repeated in shock, "what are they doing so close to Berk?"

"Attacking us," Tuffnut answered with a frown as he made his way over to check on Iris.

Fishlegs furrowed his eyebrows and added, "no, Hiccup's right. Those dragons prefer secluded forests away from people and other dragon species."

"Oh, they don't like people or other dragons? Perfect," Snotlout spoke sarcastically, "Berk is the last place they should be."

"Why would they come here on their own?" Iris wondered aloud.

Astrid and Hiccup exchanged a grave look. The chief frowned and let his gaze fall back onto the shaken riders. "I'm afraid I might have a theory," he told them, then gestured for them to follow him to the Great Hall.

Once inside, Hiccup was relieved to find it empty of all other people. He pulled out the guest list from the wedding and handed it to Fishlegs. "The wedding guest list?" Fishlegs questioned. He began to look over it as he inquired, "what does this have to do with the...oh Thor."

"What is it?" Ruff tried to grab at the paper.

Tuffnut pushed past her and snatched the paper, "hey, I wanna see."

Before he got a chance to look at it, Fishlegs spoke warily, "Victor's last name is Grimborn."

Everyone but Iris immediately frowned as worry rose on their faces. "Is that..a problem?" Iris wondered in confusion.

"Iris, before we met you, we took a year to explore past the archipelago in search of new dragons," Hiccup began, "and we made some enemies. A man who hunted, killed, and sold dragons. He tried to kill us, and even attacked Berk a few times. His name was Viggo Grimborn."

Iris's eyes went wide, "..what?" She looked down, "Viggo was his father..he never talked much about him, but..but Victor's the complete opposite of that."

"And we believe you," Hiccup assured her.

"Speak for yourself," Snotlout argued, crossing his arms.

Hiccup people shis eyes and went on. "Listen, Iris, I know that he's a friend of your people," he told her, "but there's no way that he doesn't know who we are; the dragon riders that killed his father."

"Didn't Viggo sacrifice himself in the end?" Tuff asked, "after realizing he was being a big jerk?"

"Yes, but how would Victor know that? We're the only one's who know about that," Hiccup pointed out.

"And if thinks we killed him, why would he take our word?" Astrid finished for him, sighing in stress.

Iris stepped up next, "okay, slow down." She held up her hands signalling for everyone to be quiet, "why don't I write him and ask him to come here? We can talk everything out."

There was a moment of silent thought before Hiccup nodded firmly, "alright."

"Great," Iris sighed a bit in relief, "in the mean time, we need to figure out what those devilish dervish are doing here. Victor would never try to attack Berk, not now that my tribe is here, even if he is holding a grudge."

Although he didn't say it, Hiccup couldn't help but wonder if Victor was really who they thought he was at all. Viggo was one of the smartest men they'd ever had to deal with, and if Victor was just as smart, he was afraid history might repeat itself.

***

That night, Iris laid in bed with her love unable to fall asleep, staring at the ceiling. When Tuff noticed her eyes still wide open, he propped himself up on an elbow, "you okay?"

Iris sighed, "I'm just thinking."

"I completely understand," he told her, "thinking can be hard."

With an amused smile, Iris met Tuff's gaze. "I meant about the whole, Grimborn situation," she corrected, a frown replacing her grin, "he couldn't really be a bad guy. I mean, Victor is one of the most understanding people I've ever met."

"Besides me, right?" Tuff joked, earning himself a playful punch in the chest. He then went on more seriously, "don't think to much about it. We'll figure everything out when he visits."